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Save time with efficient tools, and benefit fromtight integration with Adobes leading designapplications. Whether youre working inbroadcast and film or delivering work online or toemerging devices, Adobe After Effects CS4software is a must-have tool. Among the manynew features in After Effects CS4 are aComposition Navigator and Mini-Flowchart tobetter visualize the structure of complex projects,a new Unified Camera tool, and QuickSearchfields--all ways to help streamline importanteveryday tasks. Click to enlarge. Create motiongraphics and visual effects with the industrystandard Innovative compositing and animationtools Create high-impact communications bycombining moving imagery, still images, graphics,text, and sound in 2D or 3D space and thenanimating virtually any aspect of each element.Unmatched integration Enjoy a streamlinedworkflow with support for Adobe Photoshop 3Dand video layers, Adobe Illustrator graphics thatmaintain image integrity, and tight integrationwith Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, AdobePremiere Pro CS4, Encore CS4, and SoundboothCS4 software. Unlimited creative optionsManipulate moving and still images using

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hundreds of effects that stylize, distort, generatenew elements, and more; add or remove filmgrain; bring images and text to life by animatingthem with the Puppet tool. Text and vectorgraphics creation and animation Create text andvector graphics in After Effects using familiarAdobe tools, and then animate these elements tocreate visually innovative work. Timesaving toolsStart projects quickly with animation presets andbehaviors. Use Brainstorm to experiment and torefine designs. Learn fast with Tool Tips andtraining resources, and help speed the reviewprocess with Adobe Clip Notes. Comprehensivemasking and keying tools Control which portionsof a layer are visible by drawing and animatingmasks. Easily get precise results with flexibleauto-tracing options and RotoBezier masks.Remove greenscreen backgrounds with Keylightand myriad supporting tools. Powerful motionand keyframing controls Apply motion blur toproduce realistic animations. Slow down andspeed up footage using Timewarp. Editkeyframes using the Graph Editor. Match sourcefootage using the Motion Tracker. Removeunwanted movement with the Motion Stabilizer.Responsive performance Harness your

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computers processing power with easier toadjust multicore and graphics acceleration. Diskcaching allows you to spend less time waitingand more time creating. Distribute renderingacross your network to maximize outputperformance. Professional results for everymedia type Produce animated content forvirtually any media, from the web and mobiledevices to film and broadcast, thanks tocomprehensive output format support. Use theRender Queue or background render with theAdobe Media Encoder. High-fidelity color Getprecise, predictable color with high dynamicrange (32-bit-per-channel, floating point) color,the use of ICC-based color management tools,and ProEXR support for exchanging files withother applications that support high dynamicrange color. Timeline and Project panels can besearched by item names or individual attributessuch as "position," greatly easing navigation ofcomplex projects. Click to enlarge. TheComposition navigator along the top of theComposition panel (upper left) gives you a quickoverview of the project flow. Clicking the arrowto the right of a compositions name opens theMini-Flowchart(upper right), which reveals how

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nested compositions are shared across a project.In the image on the right, weve opened theOptions for the Mini-Flowchart; you can alter howit is sorted and which direction it flows. Click toenlarge. The new Cartoon effect can convertlive-action footage (left) into stylized imagery(right). Click to enlarge. Top new features ofAdobe After Effects CS 4After Effects CS4introduces numerous new features that enhancean artists productivity as well as open up freshcreative possibilities. Searchable timelines andprojects plus easier nested compositionnavigationAs projects become deeper and morecomplex, it can be challenging to find a specificlayer or other asset--especially on deadline orwhen youre working in an unfamiliar project.After Effects CS4 eliminates this frustration byincluding live search functions directly inside theTimeline and Project panels. You can quickly findproject elements, keyframeable properties,effects, and more. This ability to directly targetproperties saves considerable time scrollingthrough lists and twirling open layers tomanually reveal their contents. You can searchprojects for specific footage items or footageproperties, such as scanning by file type to find

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all the SWF files that have been imported, orflagging whether or not an updated logo iscurrently being used in a composition. You canalso search timelines by layer names, properties,comments or expressions, effect names orparameters, and more. Search results appear assoon as you start typing, and can be limited toselected layers or may encompass your entiretimeline or project. Many artists use nestedcompositions inside After Effects as a way tobreak complex projects into smaller, moremanageable elements. This allows both thecreation of elaborate animation chains and alsothe ability to make quick updates to a projectwhere a change in one composition may beimmediately rippled out through other comps. Tomake these composition hierarchies easier tonavigate, After Effects CS4 features aComposition navigator along the top of eachComposition panel, which displays the names ofthe incoming (nested) compositions as well asthe outgoing (parent) compositions for thecurrently active composition. These compositionscan be opened to access the Mini-Flowchart,which reveals the nesting organization of relatedcompositions. This allows you to more easily

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visualize and navigate the structure of complexprojects: You merely have to click on acompositions name in the Mini-Flowchart toinstantly switch to it. These features make iteasier for you to familiarize yourself with and tonavigate through projects created by other AfterEffects artists, or to recall the structure of anolder project which now needs updating.Photoshop 3D layers importA powerful newtechnology in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extendedallows you to place 3D objects on layers, paintthem using the industry-standard tools inPhotoshop, and render them along with the restof your imagery. With After Effects CS4, you canimport and animate Photoshop 3D layers in yourcomposition, where they can be viewed as 3Dobjects using cameras in After Effects. You canalso apply effects to change the layersappearance over time, composite 3D layers withother objects (including animated text and shapelayers, live-action video, and sound), and renderthe result as you would any other projectelement. This feature creates a flexible new 3Dworkflow in which artists, instead of rendering a3D scene from within a dedicated 3D applicationand treating it as finished footage inside After

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Effects, can import and paint objects inPhotoshop, import the PSD file with the 3D layerinto After Effects, and further process andanimate the objects without having to go back toa 3D application and re-render the result.Combined with the Vanishing Point featureintroduced in Creative Suite 3, artists have agrowing list of options for how they can create3D worlds without the need to purchase andlearn dedicated 3D software. Cartoon effectThenew Cartoon effect allows you to create newlooks for your video or other animated imagery,instantly applying the appearance of celanimation or watercolor paintings to live actionor to computer-generated 3D imagery. Its acreative tool that allows you to quickly stylizefootage, using a deep set of controls to createyour own fresh looks. This makes it equallyuseful for motion graphics and for interactivedesigners interested in crafting new visual stylesas well as videographers and editors who want tocreate unique visuals without the painstakingprocess of hand-drawing every frame. You caneven use the Cartoon effect to rescuelow-resolution or poor-quality footage bysmoothing and abstracting it. This effect--found

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in the Effects > Stylize category--provides threeessential enhancements. First, it performs asmoothing operation to remove distracting imagedetails. Second, it finds the edges between theremaining details in order to highlight them andprovide a border to help separate the areas ofcolor. Third, it fills in the colors and gradientsbetween the edges. You have full control overeach of these enhancements through a set ofseparate Fill and Edge parameters as well asAdvanced parameters. The Cartoon effect is alsographics processing unit (GPU) accelerated, soyou can quickly experiment with refinements ortry out whole new looks. Independent keyframingof X, Y, and Z position plus other 3D compositingenhancementsIn addition to the Photoshop 3Dlayers import feature mentioned earlier, AfterEffects CS4 contains two other majorenhancements that make working in 3D morefluid. X-, Y-, and Z-position properties can bekeyframed separately, greatly easing the craftingof complex animation moves, such as having acamera smoothly change elevations and thenhold while maintaining a constant forward orsideways velocity, or creating bounce-styleactions. These separate properties may be

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collapsed back into a unified set of keyframesthat control all properties at once. A new UnifiedCamera tool takes advantage of a three-buttonmouse, allowing you to quickly switch betweenTrack XY, Track Z, and Orbit movements. Thisallows you to work more intuitively while settingup camera positions. It also makes theexperience of using cameras in After Effectsmore similar to that in 3D modeling applications.Separate X-, Y-, and Z-position graphs in AfterEffects CS4 offer animators new levels of motioncontrol, such as creating this bounce-styleanimation movement. Click to enlarge. AfterEffects compositions can be exported as layeredFlash Professional projects. Click to enlarge.Mocha for Adobe After Effects provides advancedmotion tracking capabilities, such as being ableto track the outer frame of this window whileexcluding the shadows and reflections on theglass (as shown here). Click to enlarge. Richmedia composition export from After Effects toAdobe Flash CS4 ProfessionalCompelling motiondesign is essential in both the broadcast andonline worlds. As the languages and experiencesof interactive design and traditional motiongraphics continue to converge, it is only natural

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that you will want to expand your personaltoolset. While previously you could export textanimations and other elements from After Effectsto SWF format and render movies to FLV format,now you can also export After Effectscompositionsas layered projects that can beimported into Flash CS4 Professional. FLV, PNG,and JPG source footage files are passed directlyto the Flash Professional project withouttranscoding. Animated transformations, such asscale and rotation, are preserved, and can beedited in Flash Professional. Other footage typesand layers with effects are automaticallyconverted to Flash compatible graphics.Imagineer Systems Mocha for Adobe AfterEffects for 2.5D planar motion trackingAfterEffects CS4 includes Imagineer Systems Mochafor Adobe After Effects, a standalone applicationwith advanced 2.5D planar motion tracking.Mocha for Adobe After Effects provides advancedmotion tracking and makes it easier to tackledifficult motion-tracking challenges, such astracking footage with objects moving out of theframe, lack of detail in the underlying footage,motion blur, and heavy grain or noise. Now youcan avoid the guesswork and inaccuracies that

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result from hand-tracking challenging shots.Mocha also speeds up the process of generatingsolid four-point tracks, yielding position, scale,rotation, and shear information, resulting inperspective-matched tracks. Mocha for AdobeAfter Effects is resolution independent and canimport Cineon, DPX, TGA, TIF, JPEG, PNG, SGI,and QuickTime files with up to 16 bits per colorchannel. It then exports 2D tracking data thatcan be loaded into After Effects. This valuablesoftware is included with After Effects CS4 (alongwith powerful favorites Color Finesse fromSynthetic Aperture and Keylight from TheFoundry). Integrated workflow for mobile-deviceauthoringAuthoring content for mobile devices isa growing field of work for editors, producers,and motion graphics artists. But this new fieldpresents new challenges: Screen dimensions andvideo frame rates vary greatly from one mobiledevice to another. Adobe Device Central CS4software--included with After EffectsCS4--contains an extensive library of deviceprofiles that provide information about thesemobile devices. Device Central can then usethese profiles to automatically create a set ofAfter Effects compositions tailored for your

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selected devices. You create your design in amaster composition. This master comp is thenused to feed a set of device-specific compositions,each reflecting the screen size and otherparameters of your chosen devices. You can usethe powerful After Effects Render Queue torender and export a set of finished movies for alarge number of mobile devices in one batchrender job. A special preview composition is alsocreated that consists of a grid of yourdevice-specific compositions, so that you canpreview your master composition in the contextof several devices simultaneously. Projectintelligence through XMP metadataWorkflowspecialists and producers are sure to love thenew support for XMP metadata in After EffectsCS4 and other Adobe video and audio software.Among other capabilities, you can easily identifythe job number or work ticket associated withany asset, make better informed decisions aboutthe assets you use, and streamline therights-auditing process by efficiently viewingcopyright information. Not only is asset metadataretained while in After Effects, but you can addnew project and layer-level metadata during therender stage to streamline project tracking and

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automate asset auditing. For example, you canadd a list of assets used in a composition, or thedurations of stock footage clips, used to aid indetermining payment for rights managed assets.Markers in the source composition will be savedin the rendered file, and will appear as layermarkers when you re-import the file. You canalso use scripting to access and manipulatemetadata. This makes it possible to addintelligence to your After Effects CS4 workflows.Numerous interface and workflowimprovementsDozens of enhancements in everyarea make After Effects more productive and funto use. Here are but a few of the additionalenhancements contained in After Effects CS4:Auto-resolution to optimize interaction speed byrendering only the pixels you need for yourcurrent zoom level Easier settings managementto optimize memory and multi-core processingProEXR support for working with layered highdynamic range (HDR) image files Native P2 plusSony XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD support Longernames for layers, comps, folders, and other itemsNew Turbulent Noise and Bilateral Blur effectsOption for converting text to mask outlines or ashape layer Duration specification for markers

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Effects and Adobe Soundbooth CS4, and betweenAfter Effects and Adobe Encore CS4 software. Forexample, you can now dynamically link AdobePremiere Pro sequences to an After Effectscomposition or Encore project. This allows you touse Adobe Premiere Pro sequences inside AfterEffects or Encore without rendering anintermediate file. Updates are visible in AfterEffects or Encore the instant they are made.Dynamic Link also enables you to use an AfterEffects comp inside a project in Encore. CreativePro Online ServicesConnect to the power of theonline community through your creative desktop.New online services accessed from within AfterEffects CS4 let you search for help from theonline community, more easily create andmanage content for the web, and more. With newonline services in Creative Suite 4, you can takeyour ideas to the next level. Adobe CommunityHelp. Get the power of an online search enginewithin After Effects, but with more targetedresults, thanks to Adobe Community Help.Searchable content includes the in-depth,product-specific Help that Adobe has alwaysdelivered, plus additional Adobe and third-partycontent chosen by experts at Adobe as well as

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from respected experts and web sites in thedesign and production communities. With AdobeCommunity Help, you can find the focusedanswers you need, fast. Just choose Help > AfterEffects Help. (Internet connection required forextended content.) Adobe Bridge Home. VisitAdobe Bridge Home--an online channel availablein Adobe Bridge CS4--and keep up to date withwhats new from Adobe and the design, webdevelopment, and video and audio productioncommunities at large. Watch the latest videotutorials for your Creative Suite 4 software, listento a podcast interview with a leading designer, orlearn about the next training event in yourcommunity. Discover tips and resources that canhelp you work smarter and faster, making themost of After Effects CS4 and other AdobeCreative Suite 4 software. (Internet connectionrequired.) Part of the Adobe Creative Suite 4familyAfter Effects CS4 is also available as acomponent of Adobe Creative Suite 4 ProductionPremium as well as Adobe Creative Suite 4Master Collection. Adobe Creative Suite 4Production Premium is designed for creativeprofessionals who need to craft world-class video,audio, and interactive media: on-air, online, on

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device, and invariably on deadline. Together,After Effects and the other components ofProduction Premium CS4 offer a tightlyintegrated, cross-platform toolset for pre- andpost-production including video and audio editing,still and motion graphics, visual effects, andinteractive media, as well as DVD, Blu-ray Disc,and mobile authoring. For more information onProduction Premium CS4, see Adobe CreativeSuite 4 Production Premium Whats New. AdobeCreative Suite 4 Master Collection is your premiersolution for professional creative work, withAdobe After Effects CS4 acting as the centralmotion hub for compositing and animation.Master Collection combines the best of AdobeCreative Suite 4 Design Premium, Web Premium,and Production Premium editions, providingadvanced productivity features so you can createcontent for virtually all media with onevalue-packed offering. Read moreProduct FeatureCreate high-impact communications byqcombining moving imagery, still images,graphics, text, and sound in 2D or 3D space and

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then animating virtually any aspect of eachelementEnjoy a streamlined workflow with support forqAdobe Photoshop 3D and video layers, AdobeIllustrator graphics that maintain imageintegrity, and tight integration with AdobeFlash CS4 Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4,Encore CS4, and Soundbooth CS4Manipulate moving and still images usingqhundreds of effects that stylize, distort,generate new elements, and more; add orremove film grain; bring images and text to lifeby animating them with the Puppet toolCreate text and vector graphics in After Effectsqusing familiar Adobe tools, and then animatethese elements to create visually innovativeworkStart projects quickly with animation presetsqand behaviors; use Brainstorm to experimentand to refine designs; learn fast with Tool Tipsand training resources, and help speed thereview process with Adobe Clip Notes